Day four: Obtained Wellspring For The World access. Applied the “touch and go” feel of Joomla. I would change something and if it made it better it stuck and if it made it worse I would try and change it back.

Day five: Tried to figure out how to move the right margin over.

Day six: Tried to figure out how to move the right margin over..

Day seven: Tried to figure out how to move the RIGHT MARGIN OVER…

Day eight: Added Twitter button! Success!

Day nine: MOVE MARGIN! NO TEXT, YOU STAY! MARGIN MOVE ALREADY!

Day ten: YES! Solution to my problem. Move the text over and change the background color! Success!

Day eleven: We shall see whats going to happen tomorrow. So far the margin is fixed, and Twitter button is added. Now we sit back, relax and have a mini celebration!

“Acknowledge Me” is about overcoming the fear and struggles of my past. Defeating evil saying that I’ll never last. Growing blood red and yellow pee. Twisted with craze, trying to hide me. Muffled words surround the air. Almost something I can’t bear. It cages the mind. Keeping me trapped back in time.

With the present I progress to change. Wearing white that is pure and strange. I am newer then I was back then. I won’t give up, no not again.

“Acknowledge Me” is about overcoming the fear and struggles of my past. Defeating evil saying that I’ll never last. Growing blood red and yellow pee. Twisted with craze, trying to hide me. Muffled words surround the air. Almost something I can’t bear. It cages the mind. Keeping me trapped back in time.

With the present I progress to change. Wearing white that is pure and strange. I am newer then I was back then. I won’t give up, no not again.

The following is from the book The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Allison H. Fine. ”Connecting with social media to drive change.” Chapter three talks about understanding, mapping and weaving social networks.

“Social networks allow Networked Nonprofits to transform an idea or grievance into an army of passionate supporters for social change, in an instant.” Networked Nonprofits strengthen and expand these networks by building relationships. With these relationships we engage and activate the organization’s efforts. Networked Nonprofit identify, reach and cultivate the influencers within their social networks. This is key to growing very big quickly and inexpensively.

There are a variety of social networks:

Personal– like family, friends, neighborhood, etc.

Professional– like colleagues in organizations, funders, government agencies, associations, etc.

Self-organized– like Facebook where people “friend” each other.

Nonprofit– pulling people out of their databases and connecting them to one another through online social networks.

“Social networks are simple, intuitive structures.”

Nodes- two main components: people or organization. Ties- connections made between networks. Without this networks don’t exist. Hubs- larger nodes within networks. Can make things go “viral” online. Core- inner cluster of people who do most of the work on any project or effort. Clusters- are groups of people who are connected to one another, have few connections to rest of network.

Network Counterintuitive Characteristics:

The network’s edge or periphery is vital to its growth. The periphery plays a critical role in the elasticity of networks, enabling them to grow and expand rapidly.

Effective networks are made up of a combination of strong ties, like relationships, and loose ties, like friendly acquaintances.

“It is important to “see” a network to understand how it works and how it can be strengthened and expanded.” Network mapping- tool used to see a network. Low-tech, like a hand-drawn network mapping and analysis. High-tech, like social network analysis software. Social capital- is the stuff that makes relationships meaningful and resilient. “Social media builds social capital.”

People are easy to find online and on many channels.

Talk is cheap.

Serendipity, accidental discovery, is enhanced online.

Reciprocity, mutual exchange, is incredibly easy.

Network weaving- coined by Valdis Krebs and June Holley. A set of skills that help strengthen and build social networks by weaving networks. Network weaving activities include:

Introducing and connecting people to one another.

Facilitating meaningful conversations.

Sharing resources, links, and information.

Building relationships with network members.

Working with multiple channels, with different people.

Treating all members as equals.

Inviting people with differing points of view into conversation.

“Network weavers provide reasons for people to care about causes and organizations.”

This chapter has giving me an insight to how social networking works and how it can be applied to weave networks together by simply stating, “hey (insert name here) I’d like you to meet (insert name here)…”

I will be performing for the first time in a gallery with 5 other artists. Come watch as I try and overcome my fear and struggles from my past. One great fear is judging eyes, so the more people judging me with those eyes the better! A great way to overcome a fear is to face it, is it not?

The following is from the book The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Allison H. Fine. ”Connecting with social media to drive change.” Chapter two goes into talking about the 20th century, millennials, free agents and rules of engagement.

Some interesting facts I thought this chapter had to offer include: 2005 nonprofit organizations employ 12.9 million individuals 9.7% U.S economy. 2008 nonprofits total revenue was $307.65 billion. These two facts are interesting because I didn’t know so many people were employed in a nonprofit organization, its fascinating. $307 billion is quite a chunk of change. “This expansion has been the creation and growth of individual organizations, with own missions, staffs and revenue needs.

“20th century caused nonprofit organizations to turn inward and pull away from their own members and communities.” Several important events first includes the rise of professional staff. Second the numbers and size if private foundation grew. Third organizations began to define success. Fourth information technology enabled organizations to raise money from more people through direct mail without having to interact with them personally. Not all nonprofit organizations keep their communities at arms length. Many do, they lose control of the outside world from the being pressured to fund their organizations and from trying not to drown in this fast-moving environment.

Millennials are young people born between the years 1978 and 1992. Hey look I’m a millennial. I was born 1989. Millennials are digital natives. Their passions are fluid; they support organizations at certain times when moving to do so, and then they will go away. This chapter then goes into talking about Free agents- individuals working outside of organizations to organize, mobilize, raise funds and communicate with constituents. They are not by definition millennials but many free agents are young people. Take advantage of social media toolset, to do everything organizations have always done, but outside institutional walls. On page 18 of the chatper I found this story to be touching:

“In December 2007, 10 year old Laura Stockman pledged to do 25 good deeds leading up to Christmas in memory of grandfather who died the previous year.” She started a blog, sharing her ideas and efforts with other people, including several influential philanthropic bloggers. She had 16,000 visitors and raised thousands of dollars for causes like the ASPCA. This just goes to show, anyone one capable of communicating can help.

This chapter talks about rules of engagement (working with free agents):

Get to know the free agents.

Break out of silos.

Sort out feelings about issues.

Don’t ignore the newcomer.

Keep the welcome sign lit.

Let them go.

Don’t be afraid to follow.

Imagine using some of these rules in other applications of life. The rules of engagement (relationships). These rules seem ideal to life in some cases.

The following is from the book The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Allison H. Fine. “Connecting with social media to drive change.” Chapter one talks about the difference between atom-based work and bit-based work as well as social media tools and social media myths. Atom-based work- taking physical action (cleaning up beaches, testing water). Bit-based work- taking action online (social media, FaceBook, Twitter). This chapter used the word “engage” quite often. “…engage people locally and energetically on behalf of the organization.” “…engage people in shaping and sharing their work in order to raise awareness of social issues, organize communities to provide services, or advocate for legislation.”

The social media tools they talk about fall into three categories: Conversation, Collaboration and Network. Conversation includes startes like blogs, YouTube and Twitter. Collaboration includes tools likes wiki and Google Groups. Network includes builders like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. This chapter then goes on to talk about young people. I gathered four key elements: Think, Connect, Engage and Work Together. “Social media use is becoming ingrained in the way that people relate to one another and work together.”

Social media myths: social media is just for kids, our constituents aren’t online, face-to-face isn’t important anymore, social media isn’t core to our work, using social media is hard, using social media is time consuming (which is true in some cases). Each of these myths are that just myths. Chapter one ends with social change and powers for social networks. “Change happened because individuals began to adjust their behaviors based on the norms developed within their social circles.” Social change- any effort by people and organizations to make the world a better place. “Conversations activate the natural creativity and passion that people bring to causes they care about.”

I would imagine many people want to help, they just don’t know how or where to start. Reading this book, seems like a great start to helping out. I personally plan on putting a little aside each paycheck for nonprofit organizations. Every little bit helps.